It is always a pleasure to visit Hagar Alembik and the amazing team of ALEMBIKA in Israel. You can learn so much about the brands you are working with just by looking at how they communicate and perform on a daily basis. It is such an amazing insight and privilege to be able to take part in the process of bringing a collection to life. It is even stronger an experience when you do it accompanied by brilliantly inspiring, strong and smart women. We were accompanied by a group of fantastic personalities, some of which you are familiar with. ALEMBIKA invited a group of great women to its presentation, a selection that represents the ALEMBIKA woman. A group that includes...
In the past month I visited a few of our designers at their home towns and studios. Meeting them personally gives a new angle to our relationship and a reason to continue and develop our work together and sometimes a reason to stop. I learn about their morals and work ethics from close and they learn about me. This month I met : Chiara (Italy) from Chiara Cocol, Hagar (Israel) from Alembika and Alexandra (Greece) from Ozai N Ku. All 3 are mirrors to their collections and a confirmation for me that what you see is who they are: Chiara is light and humorous. Colorful and interesting. Hagar is witty and passionate about women and clothes in a way I...
My good friend told me yesterday a story which made me think.... His mother didn't feel right in the middle of the night and felt she needed to get to the hospital right away. She lives on her own so she called an Ambulance and gave them her son's cell phone number to call. He did not get the call or who knows what happened, so he never showed up. She spent the night in the ER by herself. She is back home now and feeling much better. Who will I call when I am in need? I made a list of 5 people who I know will come immediately, no questions asked. Do you have 5 people to call...
Chiara Cocol is COOL ! She learned the business from her mom who used to manufacture shirts only for 40 years. Chiara joined in and made her own collection after having her 3 daughters and felt she couldn't find anything that fit her well after her 3 pregnancies. She is still working in the house where her mom and dad lived and she grew up in where the studio, cutting room, pattern making and sewing done. They pack and ship from there too. All under one roof in a beautiful neighborhood in the suburbs of Milan. Chiara loves color and her inspiration for SS20 was the Asymmetric theme saying it changes generic or plain item to an interesting one, just...
More and more we hear about aging parents that many of you are busy taking care of. It is frustrating at times and mainly painful and exhausting. I want to share a tip my group of volunteers got a few years ago from a very smart social worker. She said that if a family can afford to pay for the physical care, she urges everyone to do so. The bathing, dressing, preparing the bed and caring physically will be covered so the care giver can be free to give the emotional support the patient needs the most. When we act out of guilt things get messy. We feel we are the ones that need to do everything so the cared...
